Japan begins quake relief mission (form BBC)

A mammoth relief mission is swinging into action in north-east Japan, a day after a devastating earthquake and tsunami claimed hundreds of lives.

Whole villages have been washed away and at least one town has been largely destroyed. Police said 215,000 people have fled their homes.

The tsunami was triggered by Japan's biggest earthquake since records began.

The government has declared a state of emergency at five nuclear reactors as cooling systems failed.

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At the scene

Roland Buerk BBC News, Tokyo

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It was only when the sun came up that a more complete picture of devastation began to become a little bit more clear.

From the air it was clear that what had been paddy fields and villages are now sea-water lagoons. The water came in with the tsunami in some places and hasn't gone out again. It must have been very difficult for rescuers to get to those areas during the night.

The scale of the devastation has become clearer too. Overnight we heard snippets of information - 300 bodies found in one ward of one city. In another town, 300 homes engulfed by a wave that came in at rooftop height. Now local media are reporting that a town in Iwate prefecture, home of 23,000 people, has been largely destroyed.

The an 8.9-magnitude tremor struck in the afternoon local time on Friday off the coast of Honshu island at a depth of about 24km, 400km (250 miles) north-east of Tokyo.

It was nearly 8,000 times stronger than last month's quake in New Zealand that devastated the city of Christchurch, scientists said.

Japanese police told Kyodo news agency 398 people are confirmed to have died and 805 more are missing; other media outlets put the death toll above 400.

The country's military has mobilised thousands of troops, 300 planes and 40 ships for the relief effort.

Prime Minister Naoto Kan visited the disaster zone by helicopter early on Saturday.

Among the places he visited was the Fukushima nuclear plant, damaged during the quake.

Mr Kan confirmed that a small amount of radioactive material had been released into the air after technicians were forced to release gases from the reactors in a bid to lower pressure.

Officials have insisted that there is no risk to people in the area, but have evacuated thousands as a precaution.

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• Japan quake: video reports
• Quake: Wave forecast map

Meanwhile, rescue teams from South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore are due to arrive later. US President Barack Obama said a US aircraft carrier was already in Japan and another was on the way.

The quake triggered a tsunami up to 10m (30ft), with waves of 7m battering the Japanese coast.

A muddy torrent of water swept cars and homes far inland, turning residential areas and paddy fields into a lagoon of debris-filled sea water.

One of the worst-hit areas was the port city of Sendai, in Miyagi prefecture, where police said between 200 and 300 bodies were found in one ward alone.

The town of Rikuzentakada, in Iwate prefecture, seemed mostly under water, with barely a trace of any buildings.

Japan Railways said it could not trace four trains along the north-eastern coast, and a ship carrying 100 people was also reported missing.

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“Start Quote

It was the biggest earthquake I have ever felt, I thought I would die”

End Quote Sayaka Umezawa Student

• Quake: Your stories
• In pictures: Disaster unfolds
• Production halted at plants
• Google aids quake victims

Several fires were reported in Kesennuma, in Miyagi prefecture, and one-third of the city was also said to be under water.

Some 1,800 homes were reported to have been destroyed in the city of Minamisoma, Fukushima prefecture.

And a dam burst in north-eastern Fukushima prefecture, sweeping away homes, Kyodo reported.

More than 50 aftershocks - many of them more than magnitude 6.0 - have rattled the country.

"It was the biggest earthquake I have ever felt. I thought I would die," said Sayaka Umezawa, a 22-year-old student who was visiting the port of Hakodate.

In central Tokyo, a number of office workers spent the night in their offices because the lifts stopped working.

Millions of commuters were stranded overnight and others walked home after train services were suspended.

At least 20 people were injured in Tokyo when the roof of a hall collapsed on to a graduation ceremony.

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Deadliest earthquakes

27 July 1976, Tangshan, China: est 655,000 killed, 7.5

12 Jan 2010, Haiti: 222,570 killed, 7.0

8 Oct 2005, Pakistan: 80,361 killed, 7.6

31 May 1970 Chimbote, Peru: 70,000 killed, 7.9

Source: USGS

• History of deadly earthquakes
• How to measure earthquakes
• Animated guide: Earthquakes
• Animated guide: Tsunamis

About four million homes in and around the city suffered power cuts.

The tsunami rolled across the Pacific at the speed of a jetliner but had weakened before it hit Hawaii and the US West Coast.

Thousands of people were ordered to evacuate coastal areas in the states of California, Oregon and Washington.

A port in Oregon is reported to have been seriously damaged by the waves.

In the immediate aftermath of the quake, a tsunami warning extended across the Pacific to North and South America, where many other coastal regions were evacuated.

But the alert was later lifted in most parts, including the Philippines, Indonesia, Australia and China.

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source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12720489

ANC leader Zuma calls for unity (bbc)

The new head of South Africa's ruling party, Jacob Zuma, has made his first public address to the African National Congress since taking over as leader.
In a speech before thousands of ANC members in Pretoria, Mr Zuma called for party unity after the bitter leadership contest against President Thabo Mbeki.
He said work was needed to heal the internal rifts caused by the contest.
Mr Zuma, who has been confirmed as the party's presidential candidate in 2009, will face a corruption trial in August.
The 65-year-old has said he would only resign if a court found him guilty.
If he is cleared, Mr Zuma is almost certain to be elected as president, given the ANC's grip on power since the end of apartheid in 1994.
Two centres of power
An estimated 20,000 ANC members attended the rally to mark the 96th anniversary of their party at a football stadium on the outskirts of the capital, Pretoria.
The crowd was made up of mainly of Zuma supporters, many wearing T-shirts bearing his image, singing his trademark anti-apartheid guerrilla song Bring Me My Machine Gun.
JACOB ZUMA
Played key role in fight against apartheid
Plagued by corruption allegations
Acquitted on rape charges
Seen as charismatic
Zuma enjoys crowning
Controversial arms deal
Mr Zuma acknowledged that the past few months and years had placed the unity of the ANC under great strain and that it had been a painful period.
But he said the ANC's great strength had been its ability to unite the people of South Africa, adding that party members or leaders "must never be used to marginalise or exclude others".
He gave a reassurance that there should be no apprehension about relations between the ANC and government, even though Mr Zuma is now in charge of the ruling party and Thabo Mbeki remains president of the country.
Mr Mbeki did not attend the party celebrations, and the BBC's Peter Biles, who is in Pretoria, says that his absence will only fuel speculation that there remains a rift between the two.
Mr Zuma took over the leadership of the ANC from Mr Mbeki after a divisive and bruising election contest last month.
There are now two centres of power in South Africa, with Mr Zuma in charge of the ruling party and Mr Mbeki serving out his term as president of the country until 2009.
Mr Zuma used his speech to also outline his political priorities for the coming year, highlighting the "serious challenges of unemployment, poverty and inequality".
He said that the current rate of unemployment was at about 40% but falling slowly.
He praised Thabo Mbeki's government for presiding over an uninterrupted period of economic growth but insisted that this growth needed to be accelerated in order to close the gap between the rich and poor.

Iraq lifts curbs on Saddam allies(bbc)

Iraq's parliament has passed a bill to allow ex-officials from the Baath party of former leader Saddam Hussein to return to public life.
The US had been urging Iraq's Shia-led government to pass the law in an effort to involve the minority Sunni Arabs more closely in the political process.
It will allow thousands of former party members to apply for reinstatement in the civil service and military.
Sunnis had described the old law as a collective punishment.
WHO ARE THE BAATHISTS?
The party was the political instrument of Saddam Hussein's rule
An estimated 2.5 million Iraqis were party members
Banned and broken up by US administrator in May 2003
Baathism was a pan-Arab secular nationalist movement
Saddam Hussein's regime was predominantly Sunni and many figures were removed from government after his fall in 2003 under an edict from ex-US administrator Paul Bremer.
The army was disbanded, thousands of teachers, university lecturers and civil servants were sacked and anyone who had been a member of the higher tiers of the party was banned from government employment.
However, many were reinstated after the US found that it had cleared out key ministries and the military without having any replacements.
Sunni insurgency
The new law creates a three-month period for the ex-members to be challenged, after which they will be immune from prosecution over the Saddam era.
It excludes former Baath members charged with crimes or still sought for them.
However, it will grant state pensions to many former Baathist employees even if they are not given new posts.
The legislation was presented to parliament last year by Prime Minister Nouri Maliki, a Shia, and President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd.
Much of the Sunni insurgency is thought to be centred on dismissed military men from the Baathist regime.

Voting starts in Russian election (BBC)

Polling stations have opened in the Russian capital, Moscow, as the country continues to vote in general elections over 22 hours across 11 time zones.

Eleven parties are competing for places in the lower house, the Duma - though it is not clear how many will win the 7% needed to qualify for seats.

Opposition parties have accused the government of stifling their campaigns and of intimidation.

Independent monitors say their attempts to observe the poll have been hampered.

The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) has abandoned its plans to send a big team of election observers to Russia after accusing the Russian government of imposing unacceptable restrictions and of deliberately delaying the issuing of visas. Russia has denied the claims.

Only a much smaller group of MPs from the OSCE's parliamentary assembly will be in attendance.

MAIN RIVAL PARTIES United Russia Communist Party of Russia Liberal Democratic Party of Russia A Fair Russia (Mothers/Pensioners/Life) Yabloko Union of Right Forces Q&A: Russian election

That means just 400 foreign monitors will cover 95,000 polling stations.

The British ambassador in Moscow, Tony Brenton, told the BBC he said it appeared there had been what he called imbalances and misuses of the administration in this election.

The largest party in the Duma going into the elections is United Russia, and it will be hoping to maintain its dominance against the challenge from the Communist Party, the Liberal Democratic Party, the Yabloko party and others.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is at the top of the United Russia party list - opening the possibility that he could keep a grip on power from parliament even after stepping down as president next year.

Within Russia the media is banned from referring to parties, politicians, policies or opinion polls for the duration of the election.

Far east start

Voting began at 0800 on Sunday (2000 GMT, Saturday) in Russia's far easterly region of Kamchatka, about 6,000km (3,700 miles) east of Moscow.

Sailors in Vladivostok were among the first to vote

Voting is not set to end until 22 hours later, when polls are due to close in the enclave of Kaliningrad, on the Baltic Sea, 11 time zones to the west.

Sailors in the far east port of Vladivostok waited at a polling station to cast their votes on Sunday morning.

"I'll vote for United Russia," Vladimir Babikov, 19, told the AFP news agency.

"They've done a good job, everything is getting better."

In Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Alexei Gutkin, a 42-year-old engineer, voted for the centre-right Union of Right Forces.

"United Russia is like a return to the Communist Party," he said. "I remember that time well."

'Farce'

The run-up to the vote has been marred by increasing allegations that the poll could be rigged.

In pictures: Siberia votes

Opposition rallies have been broken up, parties have complained that their headquarters have been raided, and that state media has been a mouthpiece for the government.

The former chess grandmaster and Kremlin critic Garry Kasparov has dismissed the elections as a "farce". His political grouping is one of several to be barred from contesting the poll.

More than 100 million voters are eligible to cast ballots at 95,000 polling stations across the country, with about 450,000 police officers reportedly on duty to ensure order.

French strike brings travel chaos (bbc)

French commuters face the bleak prospect of limited train servicesFrance is suffering travel chaos after transport unions broadened a strike in protest against President Nicolas Sarkozy's pension reforms.
Train, subway and bus workers joined an open-ended walk-out. Hundreds of kilometres of traffic jams were reported on roads into the capital.
State-run gas and electricity sectors workers are also protesting.
The government and the unions have resumed talks but the transport stoppage could last for several days.
The BBC's Alasdair Sandford in Paris says that with students, teachers, civil servants and even magistrates threatening strike action over separate issues, the fear for the government is that this becomes a general wave of protest against economic hardship.
Contingency plans
Labour Minister Xavier Bertrand warned that Wednesday would be "a hellish day for travellers and perhaps for many days beyond that".
'SPECIAL' PENSIONS
Benefits 1.6m workers, including 1.1m retirees
Applies in 16 sectors, of which rail and utilities employees make up 360,000 people
Account for 6% of total state pension payments
Shortfall costs state 5bn euros (£3.5bn; $6.9bn) a year
Some workers can retire on full pensions aged 50
Awarded to Paris Opera House workers in 1698 by Louis XIV
That view was echoed by Prime Minister Francois Fillon who told parliament: "Millions of French people will be deprived of their fundamental freedom, the freedom of movement and even perhaps to work."
Early on Wednesday, more than 300km (190 miles) of traffic jams were reported on roads heading into Paris, twice the daily average.
Our correspondent says Parisians have been improvising in their battle to get to work - driving in earlier than usual, car sharing or taking to bikes and roller blades.
Rail employees stopped work at 2000 (1900 GMT) on Tuesday. Only 90 of the country's 700 high-speed TGV trains are said to be running. Commuter train services are also severely reduced.
The metro service in Paris is running at 20% capacity, metro operator RATP said. Bus services are also affected.
Eurostar has said the first train services from London's new St Pancras terminal will be unaffected by the industrial action.
Gas and electricity workers joined their striking rail colleagues on Wednesday threatening targeted blackouts, as their pension schemes are also facing reform.
Mandate for change
Mr Sarkozy wants to cut pensions that allow some public employees to retire on a full pension as early as 50 and says he is determined to stay the course, despite the strike threat.
STRIKE SPREADS

RAIL: Seven of eight unions at the state-owned SNCF rail company began an open-ended strike on 13 November
PARIS METRO/BUS: Five of eight unions joined an open-ended strike on 14 November
ENERGY: Seven unions at state-owned EDF and GDF utilities strike on 14 November
PARIS OPERA HOUSE: Four unions representing staff join strike on 14 November. Open-ended strike by La Comedie Francaise, the state theatre
"I will carry out these reforms right to the end. Nothing will put me off my goal," he told the European Parliament during a visit to Strasbourg, reminding everyone that he was elected on a reform mandate.
"The French people approved these reforms. I told them all about it before the elections so that I would be able to do what was necessary afterwards," AFP quoted him as saying.
But a spokesman for the CGT trade union disagreed with Mr Sarkozy's logic.
"If reforms for the French citizen means that they are going to be working more and getting less pension at the end of the deal, I'm not quite sure all the French are agreeing with this approach," Oliver Sekai told the BBC.
Analysts say that Mr Sarkozy's resolve to stand up to France's powerful unions now faces a real test and his reputation rides on his success.
And though he has promised he will stand firm against the strikes, they say, at the same time he will be anxious to avoid the kind of street protests which occurred in 1995 when the French government last tried to reform the pension system.